Don’t take over 200 million people for granted. LinkedIn has the numbers and still counting. The biggest network of business professionals is still growing at an amazing rate it’s not slowing down any time soon. Millions of professionals from every industry are making their profiles better, getting jobs and enhancing their careers with a professional LinkedIn profile.
Don’t just maintain a dormant profile on LinkedIn because business professionals are supposed to be there, but spend quality time to make your profile attractive because believe it or not LinkedIn is the closest online resume you can have online. The top 10% LinkedIn users are making the most of LinkedIn, how then do you use LinkedIn effectively like every successful user of LinkedIn. These are the 6 important ways successful people use LinkedIn.
1. They optimize their profiles for search
The basic thing you should have done the moment you created your LinkedIn profile was to complete it with every information required. LinkedIn keeps making it’s business social network better everyday with great features to make it easy to build and maintain a great public resume. And the good news is that you can use every feature to your advantage.
If your profile is well optimized for search, you will end up in most searches for professionals in your field. Somebody could be searching for a business partner, experts in your field, freelancers, connections for a business opportunity or job prospects. Don’t waste time, make sure the title of your profile describes exactly what you do or who you are. In general optimize your headline, job description and summary. Don’t forget to use a professional photo on LinkedIn, it’s not an option but a requirement.
2. Professional LinkedIn users get involved in groups
Every professional LinkedIn user gets involved in LinkedIn groups — industry groups, subject matter they are interested in and guess what they also hang out in groups that talk about what they do to be able to effectively contribute to topics. Oh and they share knowledge freely with group members. When you do that, you open doors to great opportunities. Members will know what you are worth and could contact you in the future about opportunities. For businesses, being in groups where prospects hang out is what you need to focus on.
3. They know how to stay educated and informed on LinkedIn Today
LinkedIn today is the new resource on building a professional life and creating successful businesses available to LinkedIn users. LinkedIn Today allows you to discover what the world’s professionals are reading, sharing AND tweeting. Today aggregates the best articles shared by the company’s more than 200 million users, and each edition is personalized based on your connections. Successful LinkedIn users constantly stay updated on new articles shared by global business and political influencers. This feature pull trending articles that are being shared by members on Twitter.
4. In a big networking room, successful networkers make it count!
Just like any network event, LinkedIn is more like a huge room of professionals. Take advantage of the people your network, introduce yourself to somebody, join interesting groups, ask for a recommendation, tell a connection to introduce you to someone you want to meet, start a discussion and join a discussion. You can also identify the type of people you want to meet most, find a way to connect to them, introduce yourself and build a meaningful relationship with them.
5. LinkedIn users have purchasing power, and businesses know it!
Businesses are generating the best leads on LinkedIn. Your small business can use LinkedIn to connect with prospective clients, announce new product launches, do research on prospects, build awareness of your new company, and make sales. LinkedIn could likely generates the most customers for B2Bs. Create a company page, turn on company status updates, educate and inform your prospective customers and you could be authority in your field.
6. Power users connect frequently on LinkedIn
Take advantage of the “People You May Know” feature and connect with new professionals in your field or industry. Based on your connections, LinkedIn suggest people you could connect with who can be an important network in the near future. By connecting with people you are opening up potential networks so that others can see and reach out to more like-minded people. Don’t forget, you can also invite your email contacts to join you on LinkedIn.
Invite your offline connections to join you on LinkedIn and start connecting today. Now that’s NETWORKING!
1 comment
Thank you Thomas – that was a great article with very sound advice. I will certainly will be following your suggestions!
Warm regards,
Philomena
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